Magic Kingdom part 1

The big one today – Magic Kingdom.

As I was going to watch the fireworks and take advantage of the late night opening until midnight I decided that I wouldn’t go to the park until about 3pm and I planned my fastpasses accordingly.

So, I had the morning spare. I decided to be nosey and have a look around a few of the Disney resorts.

Firstly, Coronado Springs. This was a really nice resort around a large lake. It was very spread out but had a good feel to it. We particularly liked the look of the Pepper Market and the main restaurant  (the name escapes me)  I think that it is a shame I don’t work for an organisation that holds conferences there!

Secondly, Art of Animation and Pop Century. These are next to each other separated by the generation bridge. I really liked the look of AOA as it had a really nice atmosphere and was themed really well. If I had to choose a building it would be the Lion King.

After my nose about I headed back to the Dolphin resort to change quickly before going to Magic Kingdom. I went over to Epcot with the intention of getting the monorail over to MK. However, Disney scuppered our plans as the monorail was closed for maintenance so had to go on a bus then boat instead. This took a considerable amount of time and we nearly missed my first fastpass.

My first Magic Kingdom fastpass was for Peter Pan. This is a gentle ride over the rooftops of an ideal version of London. Disney know how to do rides like this and it was very enjoyable.

Next, I went on to Haunted Mansion for our second fastpass. It was entertaining and was not scary at all. .

Then I decided on a break so went to eat some nachos with the make your own toppings. The portions were big and I did enjoy the food.

Whilst I waited for our food to go down we decided to go on something gentle so Pirates of the Caribbean it was. This is a other well themed ride but I did get unexpectedly wet. The queue for this was only about 10 minutes.

My third fastpass was for Big Thunder Mountain. Hoping that my nachos had gone down and that I wasn’t going to rename the ride “Big Chunder Mountain” I decided to give it a go. This is a really good ride and one that I would always go on when visiting MK.

The queue for Philharmagic was short so this was a good one to go on next especially as I like Donald Duck.

By this time it was getting close to the Main Street Electrical Parade so I avoided Main Street as it was heaving and went over to Liberty Square where there were benches that you could sit on and wait. This turned out to be an excellent viewing spot as I saw the parade really well and I am still humming along to the music.

I moved over to the Castle and stood to the side of it as everywhere else was heaving. I had a good view of the lighting up of the castle before the fireworks which was amazing and the fireworks were truly magical.

As the park was open until midnight I took advantage of the quieter time as most people were leaving the park by this point. I managed to get virtually straight on the Jungle Cruise which was really different at night.

After a portion of Funnelcake, I had a couple of photos taken outside the castle before making my way back from the Magic Kingdom to the hotel. An exhausting but amazing day.